Cushion heel



* ties and durability, :3

' Patented Jim's 926.

JOHN R nAnnwAYgjos swhmrsoor'r;

'iimssnonussrrs; AssisNoR trio UNITED SHOE MACHINERY-CORPORATION;I013 rA'rnnson', NEW JERSEY, .A oonPoRATIon 20's 1 NEW messy.

Application filed reams 15,1922, Serial no; 07,077

' This inventionrelatestocushion heels and; has for its object the iinprovelnent'of such heels with respect to economy ea'se sef curity of attachment, i nproved fitting quell- Cushion heels are usually'rnade' of rubber V or seine composition having the: jchalracten istics of rubber, such materials being pomparetively softan d resilient; Itisthe usual practice to: Attach such heels by nails to a heel ba'seupon, theheel seat endiof the outer-e soleiof a shoeor, if theentire heel isinade of rubber or like material, itis nailed. di-

' rectly to the outer sole' ,Cementis cominonly.

used to aid in securing a firm sttachment g I M e c near ts other end. "lVhen thefhole '1s fd1s and a close fit betweenthe relatively soft rubbertand the harder material to which it is attached. v The greatest difficulty in effecting a. tight joint and a secure Iattaclnnent' 'betiteen'the rubber heel and the baseexis'ts at the breast corners ofthe heel, and "the ordinary cushion heel also hss the drawbzicktlmt, when the shoeispresented' tojthe heel trinnning ns chine to trim the base to thecontour of the rubber section, the comparatively soft rub-l her, which servesasa' gnideffor the top lift guard of theltrinnningcutter;frequently yields 'sufliciently to permit the 1 cutter to out too deeply into the heel bese, ith the result'that an excessivekainount ofseouring is required to produce sniooth', continuous surface around the edge ofthe heeland'the intended shape of the heel is more or less de; parted from, usually to the "detriment of its appearance. i

According te stiffening or supporting. elements -zire embedded in the region of the breast corners of the heel and are soarrzinged as to drewend hold; the hreasteorners tightly aguinstthe basefandto support-"the material of. the

cushion heel against yielding inwardly to any .ineterial extent under the pressure of'- thetriinlning cutter guard against :its edge; By l a novel combination of such stiffening inen'ibers Withizi heel having a dished at-v tziching face, the edges, and particularly the breast corners, of the'heelereheld down so tightly that thereis no necessity for the use. of. cement and a large item of expense in st taching the heel'is thuseliminated; In the illustrated embodiment of the inyention the stiffening members[,consist'of plates of coinperatiyelyherd ineteriel sueli, for example;

the present iny'e ntion novel esspring steel, whichareunconnected, substentially separated and e nally of'the heel.

rranged': longitudi- V The bodyjportions of the illustrated stiffening 'or reinforcing members lle V fi PpZ'OXl1IlEXtGl f parallel to the side edges" of the heel-while engularly disposed proections extend outwardly into vthe breast corners from the nearest nailing locations: 7

P e-fereblygone or more of the heelattach I ing nails are driventhrough. suitable aper-p turesin' each stiffening member, which thus takes the place of'one or morejof the usual Washer-s.- 'In the heel herein illustrated anail 'reeeiyingslot is'provided near one end of the stiffening member and a nail receiving hole posed in slineinent' 'With the slot, as: shown,

edequate I proyision" is made. for firregulare spacing between the washer pins inthe rnb 3 eerheel mold and onesize of stilfen ngineinber ney even be usedfor a plurality of sizes of heels Without sacrificing liSlJl'OPQlTlOCZltion in the heel. "The s1otendhole,ss shown,

are located at opposite sides of the center of gravity of the stiffening n eniher, With'the 'esult'tlmt the latter. remains secure 1n its proper position upon'the pins'in the heel mold While the. rubber compound is being I forj the heel material to prevent lt fIOIH breast corner, sufficient support is provided yielding inwardly to any great extent during] the trin'nning operationendyet, by reason ofv the comparatively small size and isolation of the supporting elements with respect to each othery they are free to'niove withthe adju- 7' cent material of the heelduringthe shrinkage of the heel; which always occurs as an incident to its vulcanization, thereby pre-' e 1 servin their piopenlocation's in theheel wl'th respect tothe jneiling locations Wh cln are usuz llyldesignated on the treadfaee of the latter. Furthermore the stitfeningleleattaching nails press the'adjacent edges of cement .106 nents' 01; ineinbers, when tensioned by the the heelso tightly against the base that, with i the following detailed description of'one einbodiinentl thereof in connection Withthe 210- cornpalnying'drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a heel embodying the invention, a portion of the heel being broken away to reveal its internal construction;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2, 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the heel attached to a shoe; and

Fig. i is a perspective *iew of one of the breast corner stiffening and supporting members.

Referring now to the drawings, indicates a cushion heel section which may be made of rubber or like material. As herein shown the heel 10 is substantially uniform in thickness throughout its area, the central portion being approximately flat and the marginal portion being curved somewhat toward the inner, or attaching, face of the heel. The dish or concavity of the inner face of the heel is preferably suflicient to cause its edges to lit and hug tightly to the heel base when it is pressed and held fiat thereon.

The nailing locations are designated in any suitable or convenient manner, as for example, by forming approximately conical depressions 12 at suitable places in the tread face of the heel. Co-axial with the depressions 12 are holes 14. which extend into the body of the heel to the nail head engaging members therein. As herein shown certain of these nail head engaging members consist of the conventional rubber heel washers 16, but the breast corner nail holes and the next adjacent holes along the side edges of the heel are not provided with such washers.

In the forward portion of the heel and arranged approximately parallel to its side edges are stiffening and supporting elements or members 18 which are located approxi mately in the plane of the washers 16 and in the region of the breast corner and next adjacent nail holes.

Fach of the members 18 comprises an elongated body portion and a tapered project-ion 20 extending angularly therefrom into one of the breast corners of the heel. The stiii'ening member 18 may be made of spring steel or similar material and has near one end an elongated slot 22 the width of which is sullicient to permit the passage of the shank of a heel nail therethrough. N ear the other end of the member 18 is a hole 21, disposed in alinement with the slot and having a diameter approximately equal to the width of the slot. The purpose and importance of the hole and slot combination will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, it being well known that the washer supporting pins in rubber heel molds fre quently vary more or less in spacing either by reason of inaccurate initial location or from being more or less bent, as often happens. By providing in the member 18 one hole and one slot the said member can be easily placed upon the corresponding two pins in the heel mold and will remain immovable thereon, regardless of variations or inaccuracy in the spacing of said pins, since the hole locates one end of the stifi 'ening member definitely with respect to one 01'' the pins preventing the member "from both longitudinal and transverse movement and the slot accommodates any variation in the spacing between the pins but prevents its respective end of the stiffening member from moving transversely. This result cannot be attained with two round holes since, in order to prevent the stiii'ening member from shitting its position laterally the holes must lit the pins snugly and in this event it would be impossible to place the member upon the pins when the spacing of the latter was not exactly correct. The present invention otters the further advantage that the same stifieir ing and supporting member 18 can, in some instances, be used in two or more different sizes of heels where the difference in spacing of the nails is not suliicient to exceed the limits of the slot 22.

The center of gravity of the member 18 is located between the center of the hole 2% and the slot 22 to the end that the member 18 shall be properly balanced when it is placed upon the pins of the heel mold and shall remain securely in position while the rubber composition is being inserted and pressed into the mold. An aperture 26 may be formed in the member 18 between the hole 24: and the slot 22 to permit the rubber to vulcanize together through it and add to the security with which the member is held in the heel. By reason of the tapered shape and angular arrangement of the projection 20 with respect to the body portion of the member 18 the projection extends well out into the marginal portion of the heel between the line of the outer edge of the body portion of the member and the edge of the heel, thus affording a maximum amount of. support for the yielding rubber at and near the breast corners of the heel where such support is most needed.

By disposing the members 18, as above described, a maximum amount of separation between them is secured. This is a matter of great importance in that it permits the natural shrinkage of the rubber to take place practically Without restraint and the nail holes in the rubber, therefore, do not tend to get out of alinement with the nail receiving openings in the stiffening members. This is entirely true in a direction transverse of the heel, in which direction the stiffening members are free to come and g0 independently of each other with the surrounding portions of the heel. By reason of the additional anchorage in the rubber, at ford-ed by the angularly disposed projection p 20, the forwardend of the member"18is"secured especially well in'the rubber and any tendency toward relative displacement of the .holes in the rubber with respect to the holes in the stiffening member willbe most. likely to manifest itself at the rear end of" the latter; This possibility, however, is a de quately provided for bythe slot 22. It will, therefore, be'seenthat'no-difliculty will be encountered in. respect'to nails which are inserted in the openings 2 14 passing through the holes 24, and slots 22 withcertainty and accuracy. 1 i a 7 In Fig. 3, 28 indicates the heel end of a f shoe, 30 being the outer sole and,32 being the base sectioniof the ,heel.- 34 indicates the heads of thenails which n attach the vcushion heel lO'tothe base 32 and the shoe;

' It will, of course, beunderstood that each 3 ranged lengthwise of the heel close to its side edges, each of said stiffening members of the WLSl1lS" .16 has a similar nail driven throughit and each'of the members IS-has two nails driven through it;

This application is a continuation, in so far as there is common subject-matter, o f. an application, of the present inventor, Serial N 0. 550,165, filed April 6, 1922.

' Having'described the invention, what is claimed as'new and desired-to be secured by Letters Patent is a 1. A cushion heel having a pair of nar'- row unconnected stiffeninginembers arhavinga heelmaterial supporting end projecting into a breast corner of the heel at an angle to the body portion of said member and being devoid ofanyprojectionsexthe body portions of which'lie approximately 1 I a nail receiving hole, substantially in aline tending toward the longitudinal, median line ottheheel. V i j 2. A cushion heel having a pair of nar-' row f Widely separated stilfening members parallel to the side edges of the heel, each of said members having a projectionshorter than the body portion and extending angularly therefrominto abreast corner ofthe heel and being devoidfof any projections extending'toward the longitudinal, median line of'the heel.

I 3, An elongated stiffening and supporting element for'eushion heelshaving a nail receiving slot near one of itsextremities and the slot, and an 7 ment with the slot, nearits'other extremity, whereby said element may be supported upon differently spacedpin's in a rubber heel mold without 'afi'ecting its'angular relation to the mold; I p v I 4. An'eIOngatedstifFening and support ing element for cushion heels having a body portion containing a nail receiving slot near one end and a nail receiving hole, substantially in alinement with the slot, near its other end, and a'proje'ction atithe last -mentione'd end dis osed at an angle to a .line joiningit-he hoe and the slot.

'5; An elongated stiffening, element for cushion heelshavmg nail receiving slot near one end, a nailreceiving hole near ts other end, said hole beingin ali-nement with perture of substantial size I 1 between the hole and the slot.

6; An elongated stitfening land supporting element for cushion heels, havinga nail receiving slot near one of its extremities anda nailreceiving hole, in'alinement with the slot, near its otherextremity, thecenter,

of gravity of said element being between the holeandtheslot.

7 7QAcushion heel having, in its breast corners only, separate and independent i stiffening members arranged lengthwise of the heel 'and nearits, side edges only.

4 8. A cushion heel having on its tread face 10. A cushion heel containing a plurality I e of separate and independent nail head engaging washers and a plurality of separate and independent breast corner supporting loo members of ashape different from that of the washers. I v p o e In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thisspecification; 4 1 i OHN B. HADA A Y, 

